At present, major players in China’s industrial automation market are software and hardware manufacturers, system integrators and product distributors. Mid to high-end markets of software and hardware products are almost monopolized by famous foreign brands and the situation will continue in the near future. In terms of system integration, multinationals occupy the high-end manufacturing industry.

In the industrial automation market, there is still a gap between supply and demand. What clients need is a complete electric control system which can match their manufacturing techniques, but what suppliers provide is various standardized components. Electric control systems vary greatly across different industries. Even in the same industry, they can also vary greatly due to clients’ different techniques. The gap between supply and demand also creates space to grow for the industrial automation industry.

Industrial automation is an integrated term which refers to information processing and process control. It enables equipment or production processes to measure and operate to reach set targets without human interference. With the diminishing demographic dividend, China’s manufacturing industry will gradually apply advanced technologies, such as human-computer interaction and intelligent machines, to the entire industrial production process. Automation will be achieved with improved productivity under the automation control system.

Industrial robot is a typical example of automation equipment. With recognized efficiency and accuracy of robots, the benefits of industrial robots and the substitutability of physical laborers are increasingly manifesting themselves. The turning point of the economic substitution for industrial robots has emerged and growth has skyrocketed in recent years. It is expected that by 2030, key areas in China’s manufacturing will become fully intelligent and key positions will be taken by robots.

Made in China 2025, published by the Chinese government in 2015, clearly stated that the development of industrial automation, including the industrial robot industry, is encouraged. Given increasing manufacturing labor costs versus decreasing prices, improving performance and extended application of industrial robots, the industrial robot industry and the entire industrial control and automation industry will keep growing at a high speed. The size of China’s industrial control and automation industry exceeded CNY 150 billion in 2016. It is estimated that CAGR from 2017 to 2021 will be over 10%.